hacking

GitHub, the go-to online repository for projects created in code, is suffering an online DDoS attack. Though the team reports service interruptions are quieting, there’s reason to believe the attack is ongoing. GitHub has been able to “mitigate” the effects of the attack, but also say it’s “evolving”, and whoever may be responsible is morphing their strategy and methodology to continue the disruption. Though not exactly confirmed — and GitHub hasn’t said as much — the attack is believed to have originated in China.

Thousands of stolen Uber user accounts are said to be selling on a dark web marketplace for as little as $1 each, according to a new report from Motherboard. These account details are described as being compromised without either the owners or Uber knowing, and thus can be used at will once purchased. This means someone would be able to log in to the app with someone else's account, and then order rides, which would be charged to the payment info on file.

At first, we thought the FREAK security vulnerability was isolated to Internet browsers. Then, it became clear that Windows OS is vulnerable to FREAK attacks. The latest news is that this problem is now able to affect smartphones and mobile devices through apps on Android and iOS. The FREAK vulnerability is a security backdoor created by an old Clinton administration era government policy which required all exported software and hardware to have weak encryption keys. Obviously their policy was passed without much foresight. FREAK attacks cripple HTTPS security, allowing for sensitive data like passwords and credit card information to be snatched by hackers savvy to the susceptibility.

Security and privacy are becoming more and more important as we transmit much more than just words via email. Yahoo is developing two new technologies to protect your data and create security solutions. Soon, any sensitive data that you send using email, from business documents to personal information, can be kept secure using an advanced end-to-end (e2e) encryption plugin for Yahoo Mail. And, if you forget your password, Yahoo has come up with a new solution for that as well. Yahoo is calling their new password retrieval system On-demand passwords.

Supposing you've got a Nexus device in your possession, you know the thrill of getting an Android update. Not just any Android update, one that brings a full extra digit to the tens spot after the five. This isn't a new desert - it's a .1 for your Lollipop. Google has begun posting Android 5.1 Factory Images for Nexus devices of all sorts this week, and that includes Nexus 5, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10, too. While we've not yet seen the Nexus 9 appear on this list, nor the Nexus 4, we'll expect at least one of the two to pop up soon.

So you like hacking - and you like Netflix. Perhaps you'd enjoy watching House of Cards season 3 on your Nintendo Entertainment System? Lucky you, someone has figure out how to do such a thing, and they've posted a demonstration of this system this week. Straight from the Netflix Hack Day (Winter Season 2015), comes DarNES, a system that's relatively unmodified (hardware-wise), complete with Netflix. This system works - it plays video, scrolls through the UI, and accesses the internet.

There is that saying about the long arm of the law and the places that it reaches. Considering how this latest cyber crime case practically covers three countries both near and far from the US, that might very well be applicable here. Several agencies of the US government made a joint announcement revealing some of the details that concerns two Vietnamese nationals and one Canadian who have been involved in one of the most massive case of email hacking and spam in the history of the US.

Earlier this week, Bluebox, a data security company, released a findings report on their tests of the Xiaomi Mi 4 smartphone. Unfortunately for Xiaomi, their results were far from stellar. Not only did the security firm find malicious malware installed on the device, but some of it was even disguised to appear as Google apps. Even worse, they believe an unknown third party tampered with the Android-powered smartphone. Read on for more details about what they found, as well as Xiaomi's official response to the report.

For a company that wasn’t even aware they’d been hacked years prior, Gemalto sounds pretty confident things are just fine. In a report outlining the ‘probable’ hack executed by the NSA and GCHQ, Gemalto says none of the encryption keys our SIM card have were compromised. Earlier this week, Gemalto said they believed the hack was less damaging than initially outlined by Edward Snowden, wherein he says the NSA and GCHQ played a kind of ‘man in the middle’ game to grab your SIM codes.

As long as the internet has existed - and indeed before - there've been viruses. Malware - malicious software - has been a plague on the digital universe since inception, and Google hopes to help to put and end to it. With a new red flag set in place this month, Google Chrome will warn you when you're about to visit a website that has malware downloads. This is not the first such system Google has put in place, but it is the most advanced.